CEO says Pope’s Climate Views Will ‘Condemn People to Poverty’

Pope Francis is calling for action on climate change, claiming it is leading to human poverty -- but Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto the Pope’s views are “totally misguided.”

“There are 7 billion people on this planet, one half of them live in energy poverty. That means they don’t have the electricity. In India for instance, they don’t have the electricity for one light bulb in ... half of the homes. This Pope, to go out on a speculative subject such as global warming, he is condemning many more of these billions of people to energy poverty … He is misguided,” Murray said.

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According to Murray, the EPA’s coal agenda has already caused the company to layoff almost 3,000 workers – or one-third of the workforce.

“I laid off people because the regulations are already in effect … [The layoffs were] based on the fact that the regulations from the Obama Administration, the U.S. EPA and the increased use of natural gas have eliminated our markets. If you don’t have a market you can’t mine the coal, you can’t sell it. This is heart-rendering to me,” he said.

Murray argues that the Pope’s agenda on climate change could lead to energy scarcity.

“We are seeing low cost electricity destroyed here. Now the Pope has decided to join this president and others and he is totally misguided here in condemning billions of people in this world to abject poverty,” he said.